Mike Eruzione visits Bedford Veterans

Wednesday

Jun 21, 2017 at 4:40 PMJun 22, 2017 at 3:06 PM

Jesse Collings

Residents of the Eidth Nourse Rogers Memorial Veteran's Hospital in Bedford were given the gold standard on Tuesday, June 20, when Mike Eruzione, the captain of the United States 1980 Olympic Hockey team, visited the veterans.

"It's an honor to get to meet these folks who defended our country, anything we can do for them is great," Eruzione said.

Eruzione spent the early afternoon walking around the campus of the hospital and meeting with veterans who both lived at the VA as well as veterans who were staying at the VA temporarily. John Oatley, 86, who played hockey at Somerville High School before graduating in 1948, was thrilled to meet Eruzione.

"I've never met him before, but I sure remember him," Oatley said. "He was a great hockey player and I remember in the Olympics they were positively fantastic. At the time the Russians were considered the best team in the world, but it turned out they were the second best when they played the USA."

Eruzione grew up and still lives in Winthrop and attended Boston University where he was a star hockey player. In 1980 Eruzione was the captain of the men's Olympic hockey team who defeated the heavily-favored Soviet Union team in the semi-finals of the tournament in route to defeating Finland for the gold medal. Eruzione scored the decisive goal in the U.S.'s 4-3 victory over the Soviets, which was dubbed "The Miracle on Ice."

Eruzione currently works for Boston University as a community ambassador. Eruzione mentioned that the military is a big part of his family.

"My father was in the marines and my nephew just finished a tour with the service," Eruzione said. "I also have uncles and other members of my family who served in different branches of the military, it has always been a part of my family."

Guy Spiri, a Framingham resident who spent four years in the United States Air Force, found Eruzione to be very friendly.

"I love hockey, and it was great to meet him because I've seen a lot of his career. It was very fun and he was very enjoyable."

Perhaps no one was more excited to meet Eruzione than Worcester native and Vietnam War veteran Normand Dube. Dube had brought in a framed photograph of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team that Eruzione signed.

"I wasn't a big hockey fan until the 1960s when Bobby Orr began playing for the Bruins," Dube said. "I remember everything that happened in 1980. I had just gotten home from work and the U.S. was playing Sweden and they tied the game late so I decided to follow the rest of the tournament. Then they played the Soviets and the entire thing blew up. What those guys did was unbelievable."

Dube got to tell his story to Eruzione and the two shook hands while Eruzione signed the framed photo as well as a book Dube had brought that told the story of the Olympic team.

Acting Director of the Bedford VA Ed Koetting released a statement that was thankful for Eruzione's time, which meant a lot to America's veterans.

"We’re excited to host Michael Eruzione as a way to honor and celebrate our Veterans,” Koetting said “The defeat of the Russians in the 1980 Olympics was one of the greatest moments of overcoming adversity in U.S. sports history. Like Mr. Eruzione and his teammates, America’s Veterans have a storied history of excelling in trying circumstances and remaining resilient.”